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Local youth from Maryland and Virginia -- all veterans of the Mafiq debate competition -- won at Mafiq's first national level debate competition held at this year's ISNA convention in Washington DC. From right, Adib Ahmad, Faraz Ahsan, and Mona Hagmajid. Photo by Muslim Link.

After the success of the Muslim Youth Debate Tournament (MYDT), Mafiq Foundation hosted the first annual ISNA-MAFIQ Muslim Debate Tournament at the 50th ISNA convention in Washington, D.C. A national parliamentary debate competition, the tournament featured high school and middle school categories, where teams of three engaged each other on important issues of national and spiritual importance. Debaters were selected from around the nation with teams and topics announced on August 18, 2013.

Preliminary rounds were held over the weekend.

The finals and award ceremony took place on Sunday, September 1, 2013. Teams debated in front of a large audience on topics that were given to them on the day of the debate.

The Middle School team debated U.S. standing for democratic principles in the Middle East and high school parlayed over the expansion in the Masjid al Haram.

The winning high school team consisted of Mona Hagmajid, Adeeb Abdullah and Faraz Ahsun in the opposition. They presented a cohesive and passionate debate.Tahmeed Hossain, Jamal Dumas and Razeen Khan debated for the proposition and put up a good fight.

The winning Middle School team was in opposition, and consisted of Ilsa Mir, Nuha Mahboob, and Taharat Sheikh. The Middle School proposition finalists were Safa Piracha, Huma Chaudhry and Ahmed Rabbani.

Imam Magid handed out the prizes to the finalists. Many ISNA participants including school principals and youth leaders pledged to send teams for the next year’s debate, which will be held in Detroit, MI.